Both Young Texas Rangers Starters Firmly in AL Rookie of the Year Race

The Texas Rangers had two young pitchers picked in AL Rookie of the Year Predictions.

Sep 19, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Kumar Rocker (80) throws to the plate during the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Globe Life Field. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers have two young pitchers who earned Opening Day rotation spots that could end up with some hardware at the end of the year.

The baseball staff at The Athletic recently came together for their 2025 baseball award predictions. Detroit Tigers hurler Jackson Jobe was the favorite to win the AL Rookie of the Year Award, but two Rangers pitchers also received predictions.

Kumar Rocker finished tied for third in votes with three.

Jack Leiter was tied for sixth-place as one of four players who received a single vote.

Rocker being picked more times to win is interesting since these two have polar opposite momentum right now.

The 25-year-old Rocker made his MLB debut last year and had a 3.86 ERA with 14 strikeouts over his first 11.2 innings of work. It isn't otherworldly stuff, but it was a solid start.

He came back this spring and got rocked, though.

His strikeout numbers have stayed strong, but he gave up 15 hits and 13 earned runs in nine innings.

It was a slow climb, but he started to look a little better as spring has gone by, ringing up eight Colorado Rockies batters in 4.2 innings of work.

Leiter is the opposite, getting lit up against MLB competition when he debuted last season, but returning this spring looking like he is ready to dominate with a 3.48 ERA and 21 strikeouts over 20.2 innings.

The biggest difference is that he has added both a kick change and a two-seamer to his pitch mix over the offseason, and they look like they could transform his results.

The kick change is a growing trend, and Leiter improving as a pitcher could make it grow even more. His velocity is also up across the board, so if he can dial in his control a little bit more, he could turn into a real star.

Both Rocker and Leiter have an increased after making the Opening Day roster.

The stuff is also there for each of them to put together an award-winning campaign, but they will each need to find consistency.